Olivia woke up the next morning after having the strangest dream, she had dreamt that Elliot had showed up at her door and was assigned to watch her. She chuckled dryly at the thought before hearing Noah.
"Mommy doesn't let me have sugar cereal"
"Well you're mommy is a very smart woman. Sugar isn't great"
"But it's soooo good" Noah said with an exaggerated tone making the man chuckle and Olivia jumped out of bed, now she knew that her dream just became an unfortunate reality. Olivia pulled her sweater on and put her hair up in a bun before she opened the door of her bedroom and seeing her son sit at the kitchen island eating a healthy breakfast clearly prepared by an adult. An adult she hoped wasn't here.
"Morning, mommy!" Noah said happily
"Goodmorning, sweet boy" Olivia said as she kissed the top of Noahs head and went to start the coffee but noticed it was already made. She wanted to get mad that he was sitting here drinking HER coffee, but truthfully, she didn't even want to look at him, so instead she reached for her mug and continued to ignore the man sitting next to Noah at the island.
"I'm sorry, I will go pick up my own coffee or just buy you new stuff."
"I don't want anything from you" She said as she mixed cream into her coffee and leaned across from Noah.
"Alright, little man, what's the rule?"
"Breakfast, teeth brushed, two tv shows," Noah said with a hopeful smirk "Then school"
"Well, it is Friday" Olivia said with a smile
"Yes!" Noah said happily
"As soon as that is done, you gotta start class"
"Yes, momma" Noah said as he wiped his face and pushed his chair out as he made his way to the living room before Olivia stopped him
"Ah ah, plate" Olivia reminded him and Noah ran back to grab his plate and put it in the dishwasher
"Thank you for breakfast, Elliot!"
"You're welcome, buddy" As Noah made his way to the living room to turn a show on Olivia and Elliot stood awkwardly in the kitchen.
"So uh, did you sleep well?" Elliot asked
"Fine."
Good, I uh I can clean this up"
"I got it." Olivia said icily
"So do you ha-"
"If you haven't noticed, I really have no interest in speaking to you. It's horrible enough just having you here."
"I'm sorry, Olivia"
"You keep saying that like it means something to me"
"I just want you to be ok"
"I've been just fine without you, I don't need you anymore like you think I do"
"I know I didn't mean th-"
"I'm going to get ready then I'm going to start work" Olivia made her way to her bedroom and she was ready to put on some slacks, and a blouse till she remembered she was working from home now. She pulled on some leggings and a soft pink tank top with a long beige plaid cardigan on top. She went into her ensuite and washed her face and applied a minimal amount of makeup just to feel a bit more put together. She ran a brush through her hair and let her soft curls fall loosely on her shoulders. She kept her feet bare as she slid on some slippers and made her way back out to the shared space. Elliot was still sitting at the kitchen island nursing his coffee but Oliva couldn't help but notice that he was staring at her. She knew she looked good for her age, but something about having Elliot check her out always made her feel sexy. Even when she hated him.
Olivia sat at the dining room table with her laptop and notebook as she made a Zoom call to the squad.
"Hey everyone, as I'm sure you have all heard I am stuck at home for who knows how long and I'm so sorry I can't be there. You know if I could I would absolutely be there, but you guys all know that I have my boy to protect, if it wasn't for his safety and we-"
"Liv, baby, we got you" Fin said on the call, Elliot instantly knew the voice
"Yeah, Liv, you know you and that boy are family and we want you safe no matter what" A woman with a thick southern accent that Elliot had not recognized before.
"You're here too much anyways, capt" A thick Brooklyn accent said that again Elliot had not yet recognized.
"Thanks guys, so where are we on the Jackson case?"
"Well, Alisha won't talk, she won't give us anything" Fin said
"Well thats not necessarily true, she did say if she told us this would tear her family apart" Amanda said
"So you're thinking its a family member or a family friend?"
"Well I mean why else would you say that."
"How many men in her family?"
"Her dad, 2 brothers, and 1 uncle who lives out of state" Amanda said as Olivia wrote everything down
"How old are the brothers?"
"7 and 18"
"So our best bet right now is dad or the older brother?"
"I don't know, Liv, I saw that brother he makes Carisi look fat" Fin said making everyone except Sonny laugh
"And her bruises? Does Melinda know if those bruises are from an object or his hands?"
"Still waiting to hear back"
"How was the dad when you talked to him"
"Distraught, so he's either a great actor or he didn't do it"
"Carisi can we get a warrant?
"Nah, this is nowhere near enough for a search warrant or DNA, I need something solid. I need Alisha to give us more or we need to find someone else who can"
"Well shes 10, 10 year olds talk a lot, so Amanda go see if she told any of her friends what was going on"
"On it"
"Fin, talk to the brothers again, see if the 7 year old says something or if the 18 year old knows something"
"Will do, Liv"
Give Noah our love, Liv" As if on cue Noah ran up to the screen
"Hi guys!" He said happily as he waved while Elliot watched, he realized now that he really knew nothing about her or her life anymore
"Hey Noah"
"Hi Aunt Amanda, Hi Uncle Fin, Hi Uncle Sonny!"
"You taking it easy on your mom?" Sonny asked as Noah crawled onto his moms lap
"I'm an angel"
"Pfft, nah big man, I used to try and say that too but my momma knew I was a little brat" Fin said
"You still are Uncle Fin"
"You're lucky you're at home, kid" Fin joked
"Are your shows done, baby?"
"Yep"
"Okay guys, it's school time, call me with an update and I'll do what I can here"
"Bye, Liv" They all said in unison as she smiled and waved. She closed the video and got Noah set up for his class.
"Hunny, wheres mommys headphones?"
"In the bathroom" Noah said and when Olivia went to check she saw them in the tub
"Noah!" She yelled as she came out of the bathroom with an angry look upon her face
"You wanna explain to me why my headphones are in the tub, soaking wet?
"I was listening to Aquaman" He said innocently
"Noah, mommy needed these for work while you have class, you know you're not supposed to put these in water" She said with a frustrated tone
"Sorry" He said with a small pout
"I just, damnit, now what am I going to do" She said out loud
"Liv?" Elliot interrupted, even though she had tried to forget he was there. She turned to look at him to see what he wanted. She watched him reach into his bag and pull out a small white case.
"Here, you can use mine" He offered and as much as Olivia did not want to take them, she knew she had to. She didn't need Noah hearing the gruesome details of her job, nor his entire class. But she also needed headphones to hear her own stuff and not Noahs class. She looked at the headphones and at Elliot who had a small smile on his face, not cocky, just a soft helpful smile. She hesitated to grab them from his hand but eventually did.
"Thanks" She said softly
"No problem"
Olivia was trying to listen to the tapes but it was really weird with Elliot sitting at the kitchen island doing nothing. She spoke more for her own sanity than anything
"You can watch TV, if you'd like" She said and Elliot turned around to see if she was talking to him.
"I wouldn't want to disturb Noah... or you"
"If it's somewhat low enough so that Noah can still hear his teacher it's fine just nothing inappropriate... obviously," She added feeling kind of stupid for saying that as she knows that man has 5 children, and as much as she hated him, she could never say he was a bad father, he loved his children and he knew what he was doing. "And I have headphones in so you won't bother me"
"I just mean using your things, I understand that this is your home and I did not want to take over anything in any way"
"I appreciate that" They looked at one another for a couple seconds before Elliot stood up and made his way to the couch to watch TV. He put on a show he loved and just as he felt a bit more comfortable Olivia spoke again.
"Wait, not that show" She said almost in a panic
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't think it was inappropriate, that's my bad, I'm sorry"
"No no, it's not that, I'm also watching Suits and I haven't seen the last 3 episodes so I don't want to ruin it for myself" She said with a soft chuckle and the tiniest smile.
"Ah understood, I will avoid Suits, I know how annoying that is, Kathleen always did that to me when she lived with me" Elliot said with a smile and a shake of the head. Any mention of his children was enough to make Olivia smile too. She so badly wanted to know how they were, but she was still not ready to talk to Elliot or even be his friend just yet.
"They're doing great" He said
"What?"
"The kids, they're doing great"
"Oh I di-"
"I know you didn't ask, but I know you a little bit enough to know how much you loved my kids and cared for them, so I thought I'd let you know"
"I'm glad, Elliot." Silence filled the room once again as Elliot looked for something else to watch.
"Elliot?" She said pulling the headphones out for the third time and he turned around to look at her.
"It's not past tense, it's present"
"What?"
"You said I loved and cared for your kids, in the past tense. I still love and care for your children, El. They're wonderful kids and I would always love, care, and protect them as if they were my own" Olivia didn't know why she said that, but something about her thinking that she didn't love or care about his children anymore, hurt her. She really did love and care for them all so so much even without much contact.
Elliot tried to stop the grin on his face when she called him El, of course it was a slip up he thought but it was nice to hear. He also smiled at the fact that no matter what they had went through she still was going to be there for his kids.
No more words were needed, as two very soft faint smiles were exchanged. Olivia put her headphones back in and Elliot turned towards the TV. These were going to be rough waters to get through but Elliot hoped that soon enough they could have that talk and give her the apology she deserves and prove to her that he wants to be part of her life.
TBC- R&R